The North name is a heavy burden. Two things I learned young—the best way to keep my head on is to keep my head down, and… never fall in love.
But I’m a sucker for a damsel in distress.
Lillian came into my life swinging. Mistaking me for my abusive twin brother, she greets me with a swift kick to the balls and a busted lip. Then she really shakes up my world.
She needs her job, but she needs a break just as much. And nothing silences my demons as efficiently as playing the hero.
To protect her from my jerk twin—her boss—I take her on a business trip and quickly learn that she’s different. Blunt. Honest. Intriguingly strange. I’m transfixed, so when she unknowingly sinks a multimillion-dollar deal, I don’t speak up. Something my family won’t forgive.
Now, I have a choice to make. I can go against my own blood and burn the North legacy to the ground, or play it safe, commit to my self-imposed rules and predestined future. Choosing her would ruin my life as I know it, but I’m starting to wonder if a life without her is worth living.
Lillian has the misfortune of working for Hayes North and there are good reasons she refers to him as Hades. Multiple good reasons, in fact. When she runs into Hudson believing that he’s Hayes, she needs to escape and goes to great lengths to get away from him. He only wants to help the poor woman because he knows better than anyone that his twin is an intolerable jerk. But he underestimates how desperate she is to escape and gets a swift kick to the family jewels in return for his chivalrous efforts. A lot of guys would quit right there but he’s more intrigued than ever and determined to learn more about her.
Hayes treats Lillian terribly, even for him, so when his twin demands he treat her with some decency, he transfers her temporarily to Hudson’s division so she can be his problem. Lillian has no idea what to make of her new assignment. She’s constantly on edge, braced for Hudson to be as cruel as Hayes, but he’s the good twin and a genuinely good person. She’s nervous at first but once he puts her at ease, they really hit it off, shocking them both. Lillian is one of a kind, unlike anyone he’s ever known. It’s plain to see in the way her mind works and how she views the world. She views it as a handicap of sorts because people look down on her and treat her poorly, even her own family. She’s used to being scorned and dismissed but Hudson’s determined to prove her worth.
This is an angsty yet joyful story of Lillian finally being comfortable in her own skin for the first time in her life. All she needed was the right environment and receptive people to be herself. I adored Lillian from the first page and wanted to protect her from her horrible family and Hayes. She’s timid at first because she’s so beaten down but as she comes into her own and begins standing up to the bullies, I cheered. She’s especially talented at creative insults and putting jerks in their place, which I love. Hudson’s so sweet and kind I immediately liked him and enjoyed watching him be a foil to Hayes as the evil twin. I really loved these characters and their story made me happy. I received an ARC from Social Butterfly PR in exchange for an honest review.
